"That's most of it." He looked at the blade Mahir was still holding. "I wasn't going to use it. I want that on record."
"It's not a court. There's no record."
"Then I want you to know."
Elara looked at him.
He met her gaze with the particular steadiness of someone who had already accepted the worst probable outcome of this conversation and made their peace with it. No performance left. No calculation visible. Just a man who had walked into a locked room and was waiting to see what the room decided to do with him.
She turned to Ken. "Thoughts."
Ken was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was level in the way that meant he was working to keep it that way. "He could be a second layer. Tell the true story, gain trust, gather different information."
"Yes," Elara said.
"The blade detail supports authenticity. Harder to fabricate a reason for not using it than to simply not bring one."
"Also yes."
"But not impossible to fabricate."
